68 Mini Pickup Project

[danotje]

Hmmm...I may have to give this a go when I get to the subs. Looking at the front, it definitely needs a little TLC. At least it seems solid.

[macmanron]

What type of paint did you use on the subby???? I am going down and getting mine from pops on Sat. so I can actually work on them. I need them in my way so I say to myself get them done and out of your way!!  Guido told me about some rust stuff he found at Ace Hardware, it's called Ospho, and it is for after you get done blasting or just for bare metal to keep it from rusting. I picked up a small thing of it to see how it works. Supposed to keep things from rusting ever! I plan on soaking my subbys in it for a while, so it gets into the cracks etc.

[94touring]

As of right now its just primered with a rust protective primer.  I was thinking of doing BC/CL with some leftover black paint I have, but I may just rattle can rustoleum on it and call it good.  

Next time I'm in ACE I'll look for that Ospho stuff, sounds like something I could use. 

[gtamini]

Looking good. Your pick up is going to be sweet whenit's done, and done correctly.  I need to start working on my 63 pickup shell that i picked up two months ago in Arizona.  Keep up the good work.  

[94touring]

Cool where in AZ did you find that?  Work has kept me busy lately so going to be awhile before I get a lot more done on mine. 

[gtamini]

I bought it in Chandler AZ. I will update it with pics in my shutter fly account. I just received a heritage certificate on the truck. It has a left hand drive, floor push button starter. All I got was the shell, and two subframes. I will be selling my black truck soon, since I can't find somebody to trade for an elf.

[94touring]

Finished up the rear subby this afternoon.  Went with rattle can gloss black rustoleum.  Also primered it with rust protective primer.   

[94touring]

Dried and shiney.  Can't wait till I order the sport suspension kit and have one assemblied piece out of this. 

[macmanron]

what type of bushes are you going with Poly? Rubber, Nylon???  I need to get some and can't decide!  I have rubber on the S.

[94touring]

I'm probably going with Poly.  Not exactly sure how big of a difference I can expect really. 

[dutchy1978]

Dried and shiney.  Can't wait till I order the sport suspension kit and have one assemblied piece out of this. 

you'll get all excited once you get the subframe all back together. I know i did. i put everything i can back on and am happy with the result. should hopefully put mine back in the car this weekend. but then again, you never know what will come up.

What type of suspesnsion have you decided on? cones, hydraulic or springs? I went with the Minitastic Road/race springs. can't wait to see how it handles as the cones that were originally on it were old & stuffed.

[94touring]

I have considered springs, but will probably go with competition rubber cones.  Though the springs look pretty sexy on there.  Also on the list is 36pt adjustable GAZ shocks, adjustable tie rods, negative camber arms, and hi-los of course.   

[macmanron]

I have a set of blue springs to go back instead of the cones. No hi-lo's or anything else, just stock stuff. The woody will be for cruising. Any real need for hi-los?? I got a great deal on the blue springs, cheaper than any cones I couldve bought. Just wondering.

[94touring]

Where did you get your springs?  It actually may be the same price either way and the springs last longer, perhaps I'll give them a try.  Not sure if I'd want the street setup or the fast road springs.  I need to read some reviews I suppose.  Opinions? 

Had hi los on a couple cars and took advantage of them, and will certainly lower the truck to my liking as well. 

[MPlayle]

The springs have a reputation of almost requiring the use of some form of hi-lo instead of the stock trumpet.  Their reputation is for coming unseated at full suspension drop.  They have more pieces, so more mating faces to shift apart.  Some folks use zip-ties looped to keep the spring from separating from the seating plates.

With the hi-lo's, you can adjust them to have just enough tension on full drop to keep everything in place.

[94touring]

I read about larger bump stops with springs too, anyone know how well they are suppose to work?

Mplaye- if you haven't already check your messages about the spam mod for the forum. 

[macmanron]

Yes, I had heard about the larger bump stops were needed.

[azbornmini]

Last summer we did a spring change on a friends' mini.  Went from rubber to the SRacer green springs.  We were advised to stick with the hi/los that are made specifically for these springs and the SRacer bump stops.  The owner is very pleased with the finished product.  If I ever decide to go steel, this will be the way I go.  
http://photobucket.com/jeffmmini

On the above posts concerning subframes,  That sure seems like a lot of work to get those prepared for paint.  The two subframes that George took back to CA with the pickup were blasted and powder coated for $35 each.  One of those I use for photos for my jack blocks.
http://photobucket.com/minijackblocks

[joltfreak]

i'm currently running my old rubber springs with hi/lo's  and they are great but i've been debating on just pulling it all out and just go with a full coilover set up.  what do you guys think of coilovers??

[94touring]

Tackled the left rear corner.  Still some more to do, but got most of it de-rustified.  Lots and lots of bondo back here.  


Badly dented, rusted, and bondo'd area.



Cool, it was actually made from bondo!



Pulled the rusted outer skin exposing the badly rusted inner skin.  



Recreated the inner skin and attached the valance corner.  Fitment checked good.  Metal brake was a win with this area to create the lip.



Outer skin welded into place.  Also between the layers I shot with paint and then threw on a coat of grease to protect it in the future.  

[94touring]

Had time to put the metal brake to use again today.  Fabbed up what I had to cut out, next is to skin it.  Last guy really layed on the body filler, even thick on the post above where I welded in the photo.  Needs some hammering to get it back straight as well.    

[MiniGene]

Dan, glad to see you still have time to make progress on the pickup when you're not jetting across the county.  Keep it up, man!

[94touring]

Tomorrow is going to be fabricate the corner skin day I think.  Can't tell you how handy the metal brake is. 

[94touring]

Alrighty.  Created the skin as well as the load floor section in the corner behind the skin.  All I gotta do now is weld it into place, but thats going to have to wait till next week maybe.  Too many honey do's got in the way today. 



Fun part here was creating the seam.  It lines up just the way it should. 

[London Dry]

Hey Dan -- THIS is one nasty ass project. I've been running through the posts for this little jewel-in-the-rough. You obviously have no fear of oxidized ferrous metals.